The Senate passed a bill in late July aimed at protecting minors online. The legislation, known as the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA), reached the Senate floor in December 2023 and came as part of a series of actions in the past few years to address the lack of uniform safety parameters that large tech platforms have to go by when designing their products.
The bill passed 91-3 with strong bipartisan support and is now waiting to reach the House. Leading officials, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., saw the bill as a promising first step in regulating the increasing influence and power of major tech companies.
President Joe Biden also expressed approval of the KOSA and urged the House to move swiftly to get it to his desk so he can sign it into law. Federal elected officials continue to hear calls to action from healthcare professionals, parents, and youths to do more to hold tech companies like Meta and TikTok accountable for the potential harm their products can cause minors.
Just a few months earlier in May, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy released a report calling for more transparency from tech platforms about the dangers of their products and for the nation to have a larger conversation around youth mental health amid severe issues young people are facing including suicide, depression, and anxiety.
What measures are included
If the bill becomes law, tech companies would have to enhance child safety measures and give kids and their caregivers more control over their online experience. These measures include:
- Preventing adult users from communicating with users identified as minors
- Giving minors the option to protect their personal information online
- Improving moderation of content aimed at minors
- Preventing the advertising of alcohol, tobacco and other prohibited items to minors
- Including the option to disable addictive features of platforms such as autoplay and instant feedback
These actions are part of a broader initiative toward making digital products “safe by design” a term that is gaining more recognition as the U.S. government aims to enhance its overall cybersecurity in conjunction with private companies as data breaches, mass hacking and other cyber threats persist as technology advances.
Stakeholders weigh in on the issue
The issues of online safety, child safety, digital privacy and freedom of speech are all coming to a crossroad. KOSA and other legislation, such as the age verification laws to regulate access to adult content, remain hotly contested. Some human rights and online privacy advocates argue such bills undermine freedom of speech and could open the door to further restrictions on information access for groups of people holding differing opinions on social issues. The American Civil Liberties Union shares this view as they have claimed that KOSA could threaten privacy for users across the board and restrict online freedom for children from marginalized groups. They compare it to book bans and classroom censorship laws that have been the source of controversy in classrooms across the nation.
The response from the big tech community remains mixed, as Microsoft, X and Snapchat voiced support for the bill, while Meta said in a statement before the bill officially reached the Senate floor that it supports safety standards but would rather see legislation that required app stores to get parents’ approval when their kids download apps.
Protecting kids online and making tech companies adhere to safety standards versus protecting online expression and privacy remains a tightrope for the U.S. government, tech platforms, consumer advocacy groups and individuals alike who all have to walk with caution.
Let’s just hope these decisive actions can finally start to keep pace with technology. If they don’t, maybe we do need to give John Connor a call.
Featured Image: Photo by Ludovic Toinel on Unsplash
Edited by Abbigail Earl
